Run from the Danger
by Allons-y Lovelies
Summary: "That's right little rabbits, run. But I'll find you, make no mistake." A one-shot about what would happen if Death Eaters attacked Diagon Alley. Written for the Let's End This The Way We Started It Competition. Rated for coarse language. EDITED


Disclaimer- I don't own HP.

**Run from the Danger**

Danger. It was an interesting word. 'The possibility of suffering harm or injury' was the definition, according to the dictionary of England. It's funny how I'd never thought about it much. I guess I never felt that I _was_ in danger before. I'd lived a relatively sheltered life. I had never had to worry about being attacked, or even hurt, because I always knew that I was protected. But that seemed like a silly thought, now. Protection? Please. This was war. Nobody was ever safe.

I used to wonder what I would do if I ever got into a fight, or if a burglar broke into our house. I was a little strange like that. I would imagine these things that would happen, and in all of them, I was the hero. Or would it be heroine? Anyway, the point is that I never actually thought logically about it. I thought that I was pretty brave, being a Gryffindor and all, but when we actually were attacked, I was amazed at how little I could actually do.

"Evans! Merlin, it's been years." Sirius Black bounded up behind me as I strolled down the streets of Diagon Alley, looking for the perfect birthday present for Hestia Jones, my best friend.

I sighed, and turned around. "Black, the holidays started three days ago." And I was looking forward to a few days without having to deal with you, I thought.

"Exactly- years! Oi, Prongs, come over, your girlfriend's here!" he called out, and I suppressed another sigh. Holidays were meant to be a time when I didn't see people from Hogwarts. That was my philosophy. School was meant for friends and other people, whilst holidays were meant to be a time for relaxing, a time I spent with my rarely seen family. I mean, why on earth would I want to see my friends on the holidays when I have to see them all the time at school? I guess that the two gits didn't share my thoughts, since Sirius had already come over and James Potter was on his way, being weighed down by shopping bags.

"I'm not his girlfriend, you prat," I said, glaring at the handsome boy.

"Yet," James added.

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "A little bit _overly_ defensive, don't you think Prongs?" I'll show you overly defensive soon, Black, I thought as my face flushed with anger.

James set down the shopping bags and rested his arm on Sirius' shoulder. "I do think so actually, Padfoot. Oh, and look at her blush."

"It must not be from the sun." Sirius winked, and I fought the urge to throttle him.

"What are you two doing here, anyway?" I asked, taking in their casual appearances as they grinned lazily.

"Darling, in case you haven't noticed, this is Diagon Alley. Most people are here on Saturdays. Us? Well, we're shopping," James said, his patronising smile annoying me.

"Don't call me darling," I said sharply. "And how manly. Two Gryffindors shopping."

Sirius just shrugged. "We're shopping for Mum's birthday present." Mum?

"What a coincidence. I'm shopping for Hestia's birthday present. And I thought that your mother disowned you," I said, genuinely confused. Sirius had run away from home when he was fifteen, and word had it that his mother had disowned him straight after. Everybody at Hogwarts knew this as soon as it happened, that's how good our rumour mill was.  
There was still speculation as to where Sirius was living, why he was disowned and who ate the last treacle tart at dinner on Tuesday.  
Well, the gossips of Hogwarts weren't going on about that last one, but I sure was. I suspected that it was Potter, but I didn't have any evidence. Except that he smelled like treacle tart afterwards, and no, before you ask, smelling him was not at all creepy. I just happened to get a whiff of him as he walked into the common room. Stop judging me.

"She did," Sirius said brightly. "I thought everyone knew, I'm living with James. His mum is now my mum." He bloody well knew that nobody knew where he lived. He'd made sure of it. Git.

"Charming. Well, I'll just be going now-"

"James, Sirius, who's this?" A man who looked remarkably like James clapped the two boys on the back.

"Dad, meet Lily Evans. She's this year's Head Girl," James said, his grin getting even bigger. Dad? This was Charlus Potter, the famous Auror? Bloody hell. I was meeting Charlus Potter. That was something I hadn't expected to happen today.

I noticed the comprehension in Mr Potter's eyes immediately after James said my name. He knew who I was. Did that mean James (or Sirius) talked about me at home? I sincerely hoped not. Would that mean something if they did? I talked about them all the time. You know, complaining to Mum and Dad about how immature the Marauders were and all that. The normal stuff. That certainly didn't mean that I liked any of them! (Except maybe Remus or Peter… I could stand them. Mostly.)

"Pleasure to meet you Lily, my name's Charlus Potter," Mr Potter said with a friendly smile, holding out his hand. His dark hair was peppered with grey, and laugh lines surrounded his eyes like spider webs.

I smiled, and shook the proffered hand. "The pleasure's all mine, Mr Potter."

"Please, to James and Sirius' friends, it's Charlus."  
I bit back a snide comment that was just aching to come out of my mouth. I was not friends with James and Sirius. We were more like… acquaintances.

"Hey Evans, we're going to go and grab ice cream from Florean Fortescue's, want to come along?" James said.

"Well, I really need to get Hestia's present…"

I was going to make up an excuse and run, seriously, I was, but something in Sirius' eyes made me stop. It was like he was warning me that if I left, he'd do something about it, and usually Sirius' plans didn't work out well. You'd think that Sirius would be a gentleman, you know, one of those people who wouldn't hit (or hex) a girl, but Sirius had a bad habit of hexing anyone and everyone that hurt him or one of his friends, and it really didn't matter what gender.

I exhaled. "Sure, Potter."

"Brilliant!" Sirius said, grinning at me mischievously, looking glad that he'd gotten his way. I childishly poked my tongue out at him, careful to not let James or Mr Potter see.

"So, Lily, when you graduate Hogwarts, what do you want to do?" Mr Potter asked as we began walking.  
Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour was on the north side of Diagon Alley, and we were a few stores away. One thing you should know about Florean Fortescue's is that he makes the best ice cream in Diagon Alley, and some people argued that it could be the best ice cream in the world. Everyone loved Florean's, because the staff there were lovely, the view was pretty nice and on a hot summer day, a scoop (or two) of ice cream was welcomed.  
It also helped that Florean himself was a lovely man. He really had a knack for persuading people to get more and more ice cream, even if they were trying to watch their weight (and I was definitely not talking about me).

"Oh, I want to be a Healer," I said, as an answer to Mr Potter's question.

"Really?" James looked surprised. "I always thought that you wanted to be an Auror."

I shrugged. "I thought that being a Healer would be somewhat safer. Though I may change my mind." Too true. I was known for being a tiny bit indecisive, and I had gone from Auror to Herbologist to Curse Breaker to Dragon Keeper to Healer. I was taking fairly general classes, just in case.

"Shame. I'm sure that you'd be great," James said genuinely. See, this was what made it difficult to put up with him. When he looked at me with those big, hazel eyes, it just made me want to melt. This was a recent development, as before, I had no problem standing up to him. But now, those hazel eyes were used as a weapon against me…

I gave a distant murmur, and I saw Sirius cover up a snicker with a loud cough. James thumped him on the back.

"You 'right, mate?" he asked knowingly.

"Just dandy." Sirius gave another light cough, for dramatic effect.

Mr Potter rolled his eyes- coincidentally, the same colour as James' (Not that I'd noticed James' eyes [and that totally disregarded my previous statement about his big, hazel eyes]) and shook his head at the boys, before ushering us into Florean Fortescue's.

"Hello, hello, hello! Charlus Potter, it has been too long." Florean Fortescue himself came over to serve us, an ear-to-ear grin on his cheerful face.

"Hello Florean." Mr Potter smiled politely at Mr Fortescue, appearing as if his patience was greatly tested when talking to the ice cream maker. Why, I had no idea. Sure, Mr Fortescue could sometimes get a bit over-excited, but that was only if you got him talking about ice cream. Then, he was almost impossible to shut up, and his monologues about ice cream often left people looking for an off switch.

"So, what would you kids like to order?" Mr Fortescue asked us.

"One scoop of treacle tart and one of chocolate please, with shredded coconut on the top, in a waffle cone." James said, a childish grin on his face as he looked at all of the different flavours. Mr Fortescue flicked his wand, and the ice cream started to make itself. Treacle tart? _I_ was going to get treacle tart. Potter just stole my flavour! How mean of him. Screw the puppy dog eyes, _this_ was why I didn't like him.

"Where's your Gryffindor courage, mate? Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans please, Mr Fortescue, with chocolate fudge in a waffle cone," Sirius said, and James rolled his eyes, taking his ice cream from where it hovered above the glass covering the other tubs ice cream after saying 'thanks'.

Yuck, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans ice cream. I had had a bad experience with that flavour. When I was eleven, young and naïve, being taken to Diagon Alley for the first time by my parents, we'd gone for ice cream to celebrate me getting my first wand. I had no idea what Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans were, so I just assumed they would be good, and I got a couple of scoops. When I tried it, imagine my surprise when I found that I had gotten ice cream that tasted like black pepper. My parents weren't any help either, as they couldn't stop laughing.

"Sirius, what if you get a bad flavour, like rotten fish or asparagus? You'll be stuck with that ice-cream. Dad won't let you get another one," James pointed out. Sirius waved him away, muttering something about 'bloody wimps'.

"But Prongs, the flaw in your logic, is that I'm lucky. I never get a bad flavour. It is both a curse and a blessing."

"I can show you where you can shove your-"

Mr Potter quickly intervened, telling Sirius that he could get another ice cream if he didn't like that one.

"Hello Mr Fortescue." I smiled when Mr Potter gestured for me to order.

Mr Fortescue recognised me immediately from all the time I spent in her getting his help for homework. "Hello, Lily. How are you on this fine day?"

"Brilliant, thanks. And you?"

"Good, good, thank you. Now, what would you like to order?"

"May I please have one scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough in a waffle cone? With extra chips please," I said. I would have had treacle tart; but there was no way in hell that I was going to have the same ice cream as James. I still thought that it was very inconsiderate for him to have gotten the flavour that _I_ wanted. Oh, don't look at me like that. It might be petty, but I was possessive of my 'things'. Especially ice cream.

Mr Fortescue gave me a knowing look as he listened to my order. "Not _two_ scoops?"

I shook my head stubbornly. I was trying to lose a bit of weight on the holidays. I'd finished my stash of Freddo Frog's and Curly Wurly's, and those chocolate bars had gone straight to my stomach, in more ways than one. Because Petunia's wedding was coming up and my bridesmaid's dress had already been fitted, I think that Petunia might burst into tears if I couldn't get into my dress, and you weren't supposed to upset the bride on the wedding day. Although, she would deserve it… No Lily! Stop entertaining thoughts of revenge.

"C'mon darling," James coaxed. "You know you want to."

"No, I really don't."

"You can hear the ice cream calling to you, saying 'Eat me, eat me!'" Sirius joined in.

"Fine. You've persuaded me. Two scoops."

"And what will the second flavour be?" Mr Fortescue asked delightedly.

"Treacle- I mean, peanut butter." I stopped myself from saying treacle tart. I was not going to have the same ice cream flavour as bloody Potter! That meant that because we liked the same ice cream, we had a connection. I could _not_ have a 'special connection' with Potter. That would just be plain wrong.

"Evans, were you about to say treacle tart?" James asked, and I mentally slapped myself. Why could I not have resisted the temptation of treacle tart quicker?

"No," I said too quickly.

"You sure about that? I distinctly heard treacle. Did you, Padfoot?" James said.

"Actually, I think I did. Mr Potter?" Sirius said, a devilish grin on his face.

"I did too," Mr Potter said, and I scowled. My liking of Mr Potter was lowering rather drastically now.

"Well, then all of you need to get hearing aids," I said, and they all looked confused.

"What?"

"A hearing aid? They're muggle- Oh, never mind. Thanks Mr Fortescue," I said as I took my cone from the grinning man and handed over my money. "Oh, and before I forget, you know that other bloke that works here sometimes?"

Mr Fortescue rolled his eyes, but nodded all the same. He looked like he knew what was coming, and that he had been asked this question way too often. Oh, the woes of being an ice cream maker.

"What's his name?" I asked with a sweet smile.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?"

I widened my eyes a bit and stuck out my bottom lip. "Pretty please tell me?"

"Goodness, you girls will stoop to any level, won't you? His name is Zach," Mr Fortescue said, before turning to Mr Potter for his order. I gave a victorious high five to Sirius, before licking my ice cream, ignoring James' raised eyebrows. Mr Potter had gotten vanilla bean and chocolate ice cream, and so we tried to find a table. Florean's was filled with Hogwarts students out for the holidays, and they were all eager for ice cream.  
We said some 'hellos' to our peers, but before we could find a table, we heard the screams.

The parlour that had previously been buzzing with noise went silent as everyone froze in their seats.

"DEATH EATERS IN DIAGON ALLEY! RUN!" A frantic man shouted, running into Florean's. "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" It took a few moments to sink in, but that was when everybody panicked. Diagon Alley was meant to be a safe place. The minister had ordered Aurors and Curse Breakers to put wards around it! It literally was not possible for Death Eaters to attack. The wards stopped anyone that had impure intentions from coming in. So that meant that they had been broken.

"That's not possible," Mr Potter said, dropping down his ice cream as he stood up. "Boys, take Lily to someplace safe, and you two stay safe. Be careful. I'm going to go and see what's going on." He then took off running, wand out.

We all stood up, and I barely noticed that my ice cream was still clenched in my hand.

"C'mon Lily, we can't apparate because of the wards," James said, eyes hard. I nodded, and the three of us quickly exited the parlour, wary of any Death Eaters. Smoke was thick in the air, and we all choked as we tried not to breath in the soot. I attempted not to notice the fearful screams and the frightened yells, but it was difficult. A child's loud wail behind us made me cringe, and I swallowed back scared tears. I glanced back for a second, and I saw that Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop had caught on fire. I coughed loudly as the smoke entered my lungs, scratching my throat.

It's astounding how disasters can happen so suddenly. One moment, we were just trying to run from the Death Eaters. The next moment, we were surrounded by them. I couldn't find it in me to feel fear, though I knew I should. I recognised a few faces that were mask less. One of the Death Eaters was Lucius Malfoy, former prefect. Another one was a man named Rodolphus Lestrange, who I had heard was engaged to Bellatrix Black, Sirius' beautiful cousin.

Bellatrix Black was so striking, yet so evil. And an amazing duellist. She hadn't been at school when I was at Hogwarts, but I had heard stories. Apparently she was as quick as a viper and as accurate as an expert sniper. She would quickly disarm you with a simple _expelliarmus_ before viciously attacking.

"When you hear a bang… Run," James hissed, reaching into one of his shopping bags that had been kept on his arm. I saw him and Sirius exchanging a meaningful look, and Sirius clamped his hand onto my upper arm with a nod to James.

"All of you, stay still," Malfoy said, scanning all of us. Slytherin he may be, but unintelligent he was not. He knew that we had wands on us, and I wondered why he wasn't trying to disarm us. James moved his hand around in the plastic bag, and I prayed that he had a plan, because I certainly didn't. I didn't even think that my brain was working well enough to come up with a plan.

"Don't move, blood traitors. You 'ave some nerve, tryin' to run away like cowards. Tut tut, I thought that your families would 'ave taught you better." The man's eyes flicked to me. "And what 'ave we 'ere? Isn't that mudblood Lily Evans? Forma 'ead girl." The same man with a cockney accent and a confident swagger came up and flicked my cheek, making me flinch and Sirius tighten his grip on my arm. "This is just me lucky day, innit? Two blood traitors an' a mudblood." How on earth did he know my name?

"Actually, I'm still Head Girl," I said helpfully, levelling a scowl at Cockney Guy, and Sirius nudged me warningly. Hopefully I had concealed my unease at Cockney Guy's knowledge. Just from that sentence my throat was aching, raw from the smog.

I noticed James looking from the other Death Eaters towards Cockney Guy, giving each enraged glares.

"Say, do you think tha' the Dark Lord will let me keep 'em? They're a pretty bunch."

"That has got to be the stupidest accent that I have ever heard. Please, try and speak English if you're going to threaten us," Sirius said, a scowl on his handsome face. My ice cream dropped out of my hands and onto cobbled ground with a disgusting splat.

Cockney Guy's eyes widened with surprise at Sirius' disobedience before narrowing. He lifted his wand. "Cruc-" I inhaled sharply, but it was like my hands weren't working. I couldn't move them to pull Sirius out of the way before he had the chance to get hit.

Thankfully, in the end, I didn't have to.

Before Cockney Guy could finish uttering the deadly spell, James had thrown an object into the circle of Death Eaters. With a huge bang, it exploded, showering anyone near it with muck that smelled like cow shit, rotten fish and urine. Dung bombs. Oh, how I loved James Potter at that moment. I just watched as the Death Eaters shouted and squealed about the dung bombs, running around like headless chickens. But Cockney Guy was too close to us to get hit with the bomb. He looked angry now instead of relaxed, and he raised his wand again.

While he stalked towards us, I just stood there. For some reason, my brain wasn't working. It wasn't comprehending what was happening. The only thing I could think of at that moment, was that James had said to run at the bang, and that I wasn't moving.

"EVANS! RUN!" James shouted, and I felt Sirius trying to pull me away. But I was rooted to the spot. "_Stupefy_!" James sent the spell towards Cockney Guy, but expertly pulled up a blue shield, sending the spell back towards us. Sirius forced me onto the ground to avoid the hex, jolting me back into the present.

"EVANS ARE YOU FUCKING STUPID? RUN!" Sirius yelled into my ear, and I flinched, finally realising what was going on around me. "THIS ISN'T THE TIME TO FREEZE!"

I felt like sobbing. Even while we were still Hogwarts students we weren't safe. I took one last look down the alley, saw the spells flying around, and immediately ran after the two boys.

"That's right, little rabbits, run. But I'll find you, make no mistake."

I didn't risk slowing down so that I could look behind me, I just kept on sprinting to keep up with James and Sirius, keeping my eyes on their backs.

What James and Sirius had on their sides were that they were _extremely_ fit from Quidditch. I wasn't. I mean, I did play a bit of sport, but that was really only a playful netball game, or some light hearted tennis with friends. Nothing serious, and it didn't help that I had already loaded up on chocolate at the start of the holidays. This meant that I was lagging behind as we ran for the second-hand robe shop. It looked like it had already been attacked, so that would most probably be safer than sitting in a place that hadn't, because it might be attacked while we were still in there.

James pushed open the door carefully, looking around for any people (aka, Death Eaters).

"Evans, can you do one of those discovering charms? You know, one that sweeps the place to see if there's anyone or anything in a place. You're the best at charms."

I gingerly took out my wand, and cast a _homenum revelio_. Nothing happened. So nobody was there. Thanking Merlin, I stowed my wand away, before my hand was stilled by James.

"Don't put it away, Evans. You need to be ready in case they come back," he warned, and I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans, before sticking my wand behind me ear, in easy reach.

Sirius looked around with a grimace, and sat down on a chair he'd conjured. The chair showed that he wasn't alright. Usually, if he was going to make a chair, it would be a comfy armchair, most probably leather. Black. Like he said he would have in his 'Bachelor Pad' when he left Hogwarts. This chair here was straight backed, wooden, and very stiff. Sirius was brilliant at transfiguration, so it must have been accidental; it was proven when he scowled at the chair with distaste, looking as if he was wondering why he'd conjured it in the first place since it was so uncomfortable.

He stood up and sat down again on one of the many patched couches spread around the store for tired men to sit down on when the women were doing their shopping. James and I followed his lead, collapsing onto one of the other ones. James had his wand out, looking ready for anything in that moment.

The silence was making me fidgety. I scrambled for something to say to fill it, and I came up with, "What flavour was your ice cream, in the end?" The question was directed at Sirius, and I finally saw a triumphant smirk on his face.

"Butterbeer," he said. "I told you, I'm just a lucky guy."

James rolled his eyes, but grinned. "Of course. Only you would get such a good flavour."

…And once again, we descended into silence. This was making me want to scream. Why couldn't they keep up a light hearted conversation for at least five minutes? Was it really that hard?  
The answer? Yes. Yes it was.

"What did you get for your mother's birthday, Potter?"

"This and that," he said absentmindedly, avoiding my eyes. My other attempts at conversation failed, and I had nothing else to do but watch as the afternoon light filtered with smoke flooded through the broken windows. The shrieks and screams were fading away. Maybe that meant that the Death Eaters were leaving. Hopefully.

"Evans, who's Zach?" Sirius asked me, and I smiled.

"Zach is the good looking guy who works at Florean's," I said. "Blond hair, blue eyes, fit." Abs that you could lick melted chocolate off of…

"Oi, I'm fit!" Sirius said.

"But you're not blonde haired and blue eyed, are you?" I said.

James rolled his eyes. "C'mon Evans, you don't need some twenty something year old blonde when you've got us."

"Potter, Zach is only about 19."

Sirius pointed at me. "Evans, he is way too old for you."

I didn't reply to that, choosing to just shake my head, amused. After that conversation petered out, the store was once again silent.

"Do you think that they've left?" I asked cautiously, trying to peer out of the window.

"Darling, let's put it this way. You're a muggleborn Head Girl who was seen with two blood traitors back there. Do you really think that they're going to let us go that easily? I mean, not to sound vain, but altogether, we're the best bounty they could get at the moment," James said, and I cringed.

"You're so morbid," I said, and he glared at me.

"Evans, I'm not sure that you realise this, but we are in the middle of a war. I don't know how the Death Eaters got into Diagon Alley, and I really don't care. But you _froze _when we were about to be attacked! You could have died!" His voice was getting louder and louder with each sentence.

So that's what this was about.

"Potter, I have never fought before! I was scared! I might be a Gryffindor, but I don't like to duel! I don't get top marks in Defence Against the Dark Arts! I wasn't prepared, so I froze. It happens to everyone!" Soon my voice was rising too, and I almost flinched at the anger in James' hazel eyes.

"'It happens to everyone'," James said flatly. "It happens to everyone. Think again, Evans! Did Sirius freeze? Did _I _freeze?"

"Shut up! What if they're still out there? They could hear you two from a bloody mile away. Be quiet," Sirius hissed, and James and I fell silent after we mumbled apologies.

"_Avada Kedavra_!" I heard somebody scream out, and James pushed me to the ground. The green spell hit the wall instead of us, sending debris flying about.

Sirius was glaring at the two of us. "I fucking hate you two right now," he snarled, before he got up and gestured for us to run. But blocking all of the exits were more Death Eaters. I hated it when James was right.

"Shit shit shit shit shit," I muttered. That's when all Hell broke loose.

The shop was filled with yells of _'Stupefy'_ and _'Crucio'_ and _'Expelliarmus'_. I shielded myself against a strong _'Flipendo'_, and then did the same thing for James when someone tried to attack him from behind.

"Thanks Evans," he said breathlessly.

"No problem, Potter. Stupefy!" I gave a whoop of pleasure when my spell hit one of the Death Eaters. But then a cutting spell hit me, tearing a gash into my calf. I swore as tears pricked at my eyes from the pain, and Sirius sent a curse to the Death Eater as retribution.

"Alright, Evans?" he called, a grin on his face. Sirius was an excellent dueller, taking after his cousin with his skills. At the moment, he was in his element. To tell you the truth, I was glad that he was on our side, because he would be a deadly asset to the Death Eaters. He was duelling Lucius Malfoy, Rodolphus Lestrange and another man that I didn't recognise, all at the same time. There was no way that I would be able to do that.

"Fine, thanks, Black," I said, biting my lip to distract myself from the gash. The shop was small, so it was difficult to manoeuvre around to dodge hexes, especially with the amount of Death Eaters taking up space.

"_Incendio_," one of the Death Eater's yelled, setting Sirius' jacket sleeve on fire. He had to quickly put it out, and James cast a shield to protect him, but Lestrange sent a fast jinx their way, tripping James over, therefore disrupting the shield.

"I told you, kids. You can run, but you can't hide. _Crucio_!" And Cockney Guy was back. Three guesses what his favourite spell was.

The one bad thing about Cockney Guy was that his aim wasn't very good. The spell went wide, hitting instead one of the Death Eaters.

We three retaliated, sending different spells his way. He couldn't dodge all of them, and was hit by James' charm that turned him to stone.

A very inconvenient point was that I wasn't able to move fast enough because of my leg, and that the Death Eaters didn't wait until we were ready to fight them. They just attacked whenever they wanted. At the start, there were about eight of them. Now, there were only four left. Because I was top of the class in charms, I put up a huge shield in front of the three of us, protecting us from the Death Eaters for a bit. They all stopped attacking for a second, before returning with renewed vigour sending their strongest spells to weaken the shield. Ha, weaken. After about one minute, the shield shattered, and spells were once again directed at us. But we didn't need to fight anymore, thank Merlin.

People in Auror robes had just run into the building, wands out. Soon, the last four Death Eaters were detained, and Healers were looking over us.

"All right dear, this is an easy fix, though it will hurt a teensy bit," an elderly healer said with a kind smile. "I'll just…" the healer trailed off and started humming lightly as she gently ran her wand across the gash on my calf. At first, nothing happened, and I gave a sigh of relief. Maybe I was pain proof. But then my leg started to get warm, slowly getting hotter and hotter. It felt like the time that I had accidently touched the kettle while it was boiling. 'A teensy bit' my arse. I yelped as the mediwitch jabbed me with her wand, whilst scanning for more injuries, adding to my pain.

"You're alright, darling." And then suddenly James was beside me, squeezing my hand, and making me instantly feel safer. My leg started to cool down, the heat slowly subsiding until I just felt a pleasant tingle once in a while.

"There you go, dear. You're finished. I'll have to go look after the others now." The healer patted my shoulder consolingly, and then ambled away. I rested my head on James' shoulder, and gave a sigh.

"Potter?"

"Yeah, Evans?"

"We didn't get to finish our ice cream."

He stifled a laugh. He was the only uninjured one of us (apart from a tiny scrape on his knee), so he didn't have to be poked and prodded with a mediwizard's wand. "I dunno about you, but I'm not really that worried about the ice cream," he said.

We were all escorted to the Ministry. Everybody who had been in Diagon Alley had to go and be debriefed about what happed during and before the attacks. The Ministry was huge. And also bustling with people. There were owls flying around with purple notes stamped with the Ministry of Magic's insignia, and you had to be on your guard to avoid any droppings.

We were sent into a waiting room, where everybody was being called into a separate room alphabetically for questioning. The waiting room had tables of food and drink, and couches spread around. It was only when I saw a huge pile of sandwiches that I realised that I hadn't eaten since breakfast, and I felt my stomach growl. I quickly grabbed one before we were called in, one of the first, as James' father was the Head Auror.

The first thing that James said was, "What happened with the wards protecting Diagon Alley?"

"That's not for you to know. Now, please recite every single detail about today, starting with the attack."

We told Mr Potter and a few other Aurors exactly what happened, and I added that I was a bit confused as to why my name was known.

Mr Potter sighed, and rubbed his forehead. "Here at the Ministry, we have records of all the muggleborns, halfbloods and purebloods. The list of muggleborn names was stolen, and we think that it was memorised by all followers of You-Know-Who."

"What do you mean 'stolen'? How can the just be stolen? Isn't the Ministry meant to be well protected?" I said, aghast. "Or what, did someone just leave them lying around?"

"Miss Evans, I can assure you that the Ministry of Magic is very well protected. This was just a-"

"Fluke?" I suggested, eyes narrowed. "You put every muggleborn in England's life in danger!"

"Alright, enough. Thanks Dad, we're just going to drop Evans here off at her house, make sure she gets back safely," James said, pulling me up and out of the chair that I had claimed before. I opened my mouth angrily, but Sirius gave me a warning look, and I fell silent.  
They practically dragged me out of the room before we apparated away, landing with a thump in front of my house.  
The boys landed gracefully, only wavering a little before getting the balance back. I tumbled over. My apparation skills still needed a tiny bit of work. I flushed at the bored looks on their faces.

Sirius just rolled his eyes, and yanked me up. "Alright Evans, listen up. The Ministry is corrupt. There are spies everywhere in that place. It wouldn't have been difficult to steal those records. The spies there probably would have also messed with the wards so that there was a weak point. The Ministry aren't saints, and what you need to do right now is ignore it until we leave Hogwarts and we can actually do something."

I suddenly felt tired. Bone tired. It had been a long day, and all I longed to do right now was collapse onto my comfortable bed and sleep for a few years. "Fine. Whatever. And… Thanks. You know, for saving my life and all that."

Suddenly, that smile that I hadn't seen for hours appeared on James' face, a mix of charming and mischievous, and it made me want to smile too. "Our pleasure, Evans."

"No problemo seniorita. We always help damsels in distress," James' grin was echoed on Sirius' face, and impulsively, I pulled them towards me for a hug. My eyes stung, and I gave them one more quick squeeze before quickly running into my house.

"Lily Marie Evans, where have you been?! It's nearly six o'clock! You were meant to be back three hours ago!" My mother said, but I wasn't listening to her. I was too busy frowning at my sister Petunia's new boyfriend, who looked like a huge whale... Or maybe a walrus? I couldn't help but grin. Maybe he could join Petunia, James and Sirius in the zoo.

**RD**

"Miss Evans, a word, please?" Headmaster Dumbledore said with a pleasant smile after the ceremony. It was hard to believe that we had just graduated. That we were now adults. An air of excitement and fear hung heavy in the air. None of us knew what exactly we would do without Hogwarts, and none of us really wanted to know. We all wanted to stay safe behind the thick stone walls, chatting about boys and stressing out about classes. But that wasn't possible. We all had to grow up sometime, and I thought that sooner rather than later was best.

Dumbledore and I started to walk along the lake.  
"I apologise for my abruptness, but my parents are waiting over there for me. Do you need something, Headmaster?" I said, and I couldn't help but feel a tiny bit rude even though Dumbledore waved it off.

"Ah, yes, of course. What is your opinion on Lord Voldemort?"

I was proud of myself. I barely flinched at the name now, after having to hear it all throughout the year. The Marauders had decided to become brave and say the name after hearing Dumbledore say it, so I was pretty used to it by now. "He is a very evil man who needs to go away," I said, but that didn't even begin to sum up my feelings about him.

"And what would you think about a group dedicated to stopping Voldemort?"

"I believe that it is a brilliant idea, in theory. In practise…"

Dumbledore smiled. "Yes, most think that too. Miss Evans, I have created a group named The Order of the Phoenix, and it is devoted to bringing Voldemort to an end before he does more damage to the Wizarding World. I have asked you here to invite you to join."

Defeating Voldemort sounded good. But there were so many risks. My family could be targeted. My friends too. _I_ might be killed. Or worse. Tortured, maimed, there were a number of possibilities for muggleborn witches, and I wasn't sure that I wanted to face them. What if we were found out? What would happen then?

But in that moment, I didn't really care. "I accept," I said seriously.

"Are you sure, Miss Evans?" Dumbledore asked, blue eyes drilling into me. "You would have to do things that you might not be entirely comfortable with-"

"Professor, I would do anything. The wizarding world will be a better place without him."

Anything to get rid of the tormentor of muggleborns. I would do anything to defeat this man, and if that meant joining a revolutionary group that was filled with hazards, then I didn't care. After all, nothing in life was ever achieved without danger.

**I think that I can safely say that this is my longest one shot ever. If you have even finished this story, congratulations. About the fight scene, don't blame me if it's horrible. I'm not good at describing stuff like that. If you think you can fix it up a little and make it seem somewhat normal, please, pm me or something. Also, excuse any spelling/grammar mistakes. I'm someone who gets really tired around ten o'clock, and it is around that time, and I can't be bothered to look over it.**

**Wish me luck for exams next week?**

**Hope you liked it, please review!**

**Love,**

**Silvs**

**Edit- 18/12/2012- Fixed grammar errors, changed and added a few things.**


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